By Priya Yadav
With a view to develop Faridabad as a Smart City, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation has submitted an upgraded Smart City Proposal (SCP) to the Union Ministry of Urban Development. The revised SCP, projecting a total expenditure of Rs 2,600.01 crore, has been prepared after consultation with residents, collection of details and meetings with officers of different departments of the State Government.
The Principal Secretary, Urban Local Bodies, Anil Kumar, said that Faridabad had been shortlisted as one of the Fast-Track cities for being developed as a Smart City by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. He said that the declaration about cities that are to be selected under ‘Fast-Track Cities’ was expected to be made in June 2016. The present revised SCP had been improved and upgraded with ideas, vision and views of residents of Faridabad, besides the suggestions and ideas given by the members of the Inter Departmental Task Force Committee and the State Level High Powered Steering Committee, he added.
The Principal Secretary said that the revised SCP included a vision statement – creating economic impact through Transit Orient Development and Smarter Mobility and Urbanism for social and environmental benefits.
He said that the revised SCP also included area-based development proposals. Under this, an area of 1,267 acres embracing Sector 20, including Friends Colony and Karkhana Bagh, Sector 20A including Sant Nagar and Ajrondi village, Sector 21B including village Fatehpur Chandela, Sector 21D including adjoining colonies SGM Nagar F and G Block and Indra Enclave, Sector 19 including Shastri Colony, Gopi Colony, Shiv Colony, Raja Garden, Baba Nagar, NH-5 Nissun Hut, attracting the areas of residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, slum and urban villages, has been proposed. This would have a population of about 37,000 based upon the figures of the 2011 census.
Kumar said that the SCP included Smart Mobility incorporating pedestrianisation and Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) and Intelligent Traffic Management System, which comprises synchronised traffic signals for optimum traffic flow, intelligent car parking system, smart signage, smart auto and taxi stands and public bike sharing system.
Apart from this, smart civic infrastructure has also been included in the revised SCP. This included decentralised Sewage Treatment Plants for reuse of waste water for Badkhal lake revival and waste water recycling, rain water harvesting, leak management, SCADA-based monitoring of flow, levels and pressures in the network and centralised control room, automated online water quality monitoring system, revamping of sewerage network infrastructure, provision of smart toilets and smart solid waste management, Wi-Fi, underground cabling, solar rooftops and LED street lighting.
He said that under Smart Urbanism, TOD, weekend-eco tourism near Badkhal Lake, smart urban villages, open air gymnasiums, multimodal hub and provision of basic services in slums have been included. Under the head of pan-city solutions, Smart Traffic and Transit Management System having the features of Traffic Management System, Traffic Rule Violation Detection System, Smart Parking Management System, Passenger Information System and Journey Planner, e-vehicle module, Faridabad Traffic and Transit operations and management centre have been included.
Other suggestions incorporated in the revised SCP included skywalk-ways on Public-Private Partnership mode having facilities of housekeeping and small vending kiosks connected with the Metro and railway stations, pedestrian facility such as footpaths, segregated NMT lanes, open air gymnasiums and intensive plantation along the highways and roads with the objective of pollution reduction and to develop ‘Green Faridabad’.
He said that the total projected expenditure included Rs 2,108 crore for area-based development, Rs 377.67 crore for the smart mobility initiative, Rs 543.63 crore for smart and sustainable civic infrastructure initiatives, Rs 1,186.70 crore for smart urbanism and Rs 469.68 crore for pan-city solutions.
He said that several projects have been identified which would generate direct revenue from their operations, including rental revenue of Rs 39.12 crore per annum. Public parking revenue has been estimated at Rs 6.20 crore per annum and land monetisation initiatives are expected to generate one-time revenue of Rs 428.38 crore.
Kumar said that the views and observations of the representatives of Regional Centre for Urban and Environment Study (RCUES), Lucknow have also been incorporated in the revised SCP. RCUES is a handholding and mentoring institute suggested by the Union Ministry of Urban Development for enabling Fast Track cities to prepare winning proposals, which had organised a workshop of the members of the local Inter-Departmental Task Force Committee to discuss the revised SCP on April 19, 2016.
